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Thursday, September 24, 2009

Yard, a recreation of an oustanding environment of the late artist Allan Kaprow opens at the newly re-opened gallery Hauser andWirth, at the same gallery space formerly known as Zwirner and Wirth. The environment has been "re-presented" by the performance artist William Pope, at the same site whereAllan Kaprow first installed it in 1961; the townhouse at 32 E69 Street was back then home to the Martha Jackson Gallery.

Allan Kaprow was one of the most innovative and prolific contemporary artists and his work spanned through many different art media and languages, from painting to conceptual and performance art. Initially an abstract expressionist painter He created the art forms of happenings and environments, from their very first beginnings in the late 1950s and early 1960's. Art as experience and interaction between the art work and public was one of the main contents of Kaprow's work. The artist wrote “Life is much more interesting than art,” and “The line between art and life should be kept as fluid, and perhaps indistinct, as possible.”

Definitely Yard calls for interaction with the viewer: a pile of black rubber auto tires and tarpaper required visitors to jump and crawl between them. The exhibition continue in the second floor with sketches and drawings. The installation was represented by Kaprow eight times after the initial installation.